fan in boston? a big deal? not to most of us, right? but to bostonians? yepper. in fact, if this list was the most poorly-run senate campaigns, our staff probably would think that she might be a candidate for that as well. but for now, martha coakley wins one thing, the top spot on the list that you don't want to be on. wolf blitzer is standing by now in "the situation room "wto with more. wolf? >> rick, thanks very much. this january 20th, a day of monumental change for president obama and for american politics. exactly one year after he took office. >> starting today we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking america. >> 365 days later, democrats are picking themselves up and facing their devastating loss in massachusetts. republican scott brown won ted

kennedy's long time senate seat last night and cost democrats their critical 60-seat super majority in the senate. now the president's party is forced to re-think health care reform, its entire agenda and its strategy for the 2010 elections. we're also following all the latest developments out of haiti on this day including a miraculous 5-year-old boy pulled from the rubble today over a week after the quake. we've got a lot of important stuff coming up. we've got the best political team on television, working all these stories for us. our correspondents are here and around the globe. we're not going neglect hate and i politics on this important i politics on this important day. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com let's bring in john king, you're just back from boston. what a night in boston. we shouldn't have been all that surprise given the polls in the final few days showing scott brown was ahead. >> it is a remarkable story and scott brown will come to washington tomorrow, his first

trip, to meet with the massachusetts delegation. he'll also spend some time with senator john mccain who was one of his earliest supporters, but ooh a fascinating story and after his event and his news conference in boston, we were retracing key steps with his campaign and they understand it has fundamentally changed the health care debate in washington, but what they say the fundamental issue in massachusetts was disaffection, the same factors that contributed to the president's big victory in 2008, frustration about the economy, high unemployment and bailouts on wall street, high spending and a couple of key quick points. scott brown, the republican used john kennedy, an ad where john kennedy is talking about cutting taxes in the 1960s. it started with plaque and white john kennedy and it came to scott brown in color finishing the quote, saying that's what i want to do, restoring the kennedy, economic philosophy and they say don't underestimate the christmas day attempted bombing of the u.s. jetliner. they say after that, scott brown. he's a national guard attorney. after that, his assessment of martha coakley, his opponent as

too lawyerly and liberal when it comes to fighting terrorism made a big difference in the race. watch and see republicans pick that one up as we go forward. >> he never really advertised the fact that he's a rep prep. >> he ran as an independent voice for massachusetts without a doubt and because more than 50% of the registered voters in massachusetts are independent or unenrolled and he said he would caucus with the republicans. we'll watch how this impacts the democratic party the most because of the warning shot, but remember he has number on the ballot in two years to finish ted kennedy's term. he still has to represent massachusetts, yes. massachusetts sent a message and he can't go too far right and he knows that because he has to be back on the ballot in two years in massachusetts. >> is this a wake-up call after virginia? yeah! >> i think so. >> do they appreciate that. you've been speaking to a lot of democrats. >> i have and i've been speaking to the white house and they clearly understand and one of the things i want to add to john, in talk talk to some

republicans also is it wasn't necessarily health care, per se. it was the back room deals and the kind of business as usualantics, giving this to labor and giving that to a couple of senators just to get their votes behind closed doors that got voters angry in massachusetts because their candidate was talking about it. it's, you know, so voters voted for change, but this isn't the kind of change they voted for. it seemed like more business as usual and that played right into his hand. >> the kind of old politics that a lot of voters out there hate. >> and you look at the problem and the first thing you say to yourself if you're a voter. we've got democrats in washington controlling everything. what's the solution? well, maybe they shouldn't be controlling everything. now we return to the notion of divided government which is a notion we've seen so many times in washington where the voters have said maybe it's not a good dwrod have one party calling all the shots because this is what we get. >> and the distrust of all big

institutions carries over to political parties. more and more people across the country are becoming unenrolled and independents and call it what you will in different states. this means the politics is unpredictable. people swing back and forth between elections and this is what democrats are most worried about because in virginia, in new jersey and now massachusetts, independents said we were with you, democrats in 2006 and 2008 and now we're not so sure and they voted republican. >> in all three of these states, the independents overwhelmingly voted republican, this time john king, gloria borger, don't go away. we have more to discuss. i want to go to boston right now and our national political correspondent, jessica yellin is on the scene. what are they saying in massachusetts on this historic day after? >> reporter: wolf, i've heard a lot of the same points that john, joe and gloria mentioned. i talked to independents and they said they voted for obama and then they voted for brown and they'd consider voting for a democrat again, but they didn't like the message out of

washington and they liked a change. they like the idea of divided government. they're worried democrats have been in power for too long here in massachusetts. they're worried there's a parallel in washington and they'd like to change it up. i want to go back to something john king mentioned which is the idea of national security. it was one of the surprising things we heard out of the brown campaign which is as much as health care has been a major theme in his campaign, they told us that after jobs the biggest issue that resonated for voters and to energize independents was this question of national security, not so much is the president keeping you safe. people feel okay about that, it's the question should detainees get rights in american courts or should they be held in military tribunals. this is how scott brown characterized it last night and let's listen to him for a second. >> the message we need to send in dealing with terrorists, our tax dollars, our tax dollars should pay for weapons to stop them and not lawyers to defend

them! >> and, wolf, even a cnn poll taken just a week and a half ago shows americans by 15 points think detainees should be tried in military courts and not civilian courts and this is an issue that's picking up traction and could resonate in the coming months and in the midterm elections to come. >> stand by. jessica is on the scene. we have more coming up on this election from massachusetts. it means for health care reform and the items on the president's agenda. we'll speak with the white house press secretary robert gibbs and let's get to haiti right now and update you on what is happening on this day. a 5-year-old boy's remarkable will to live. he was pulled alive from his collapsed home just a little while ago. he survived almost eight days trapped in the rubble. we are told he suffers from severe dehydration, but he

doesn't have any broken bones. other developments in haiti. a senior administration official tells cnn that seven rescue teams still are searching the ruins of the hotel montana, piece by piece. some americans are still trapped inside. so far they haven't found anyone on this day. people cried, prayed and screamed when a strong 5.9 aftershock struck haiti early this morning. a unofficial said some buildings collapsed in a small town closest to the epicenter of the aftershock. we'll have much more from haiti. that's coming up this hour. we'll be speaking with our reporters on the scene. dr. sanjay gupta, anderson cooper, stand by. full reports coming out of haiti, but we are also not going far away from the political bombshell, the election in massachusetts last night.

what it means, we're going to be speaking with the chairman of the democratic party, tim cain and speak with the number two republican in the house of representatives, eric cantor and our best political team on television, all standing by.

let's get right to jack cafferty. he's here with the cafferty file. it was a year ago to the day that president obama rode into washington high on his campaign's mantra of change and hope. he delivered his inauguration

speech to adoring masses and embarked on an ambitious agenda. he would tackle the environment, health care and all in the first year. fast forward 12 months. the president and has party have been handed a stunning defeat in massachusetts of all places. what's more, the same, angry, independent voters disgusted with politic as usual, who had vaulted president obama into the white house, that delivered big time for republican scott brown in massachusetts. meanwhile, the president's comment that we can't win them all, that's a quote, that's like putting lipstick on a pig. this loss is huge for him and the democratic party. after all, president obama campaigned personally for the loser in massachusetts, martha coakley as he did for the loser in the governor's race in virginia, and the loser in the governor's race in new jersey. seems like the obama magic may be gone. no doubt, republicans rejoicing here. presidential hopefuls like mitt romney and tim pollenty all

smiles weighing in on what it all means, but sarah palin might want to think twice before she gives up her day job over there at the network. a new cbs news poll shows a whopping 71% of americans including 56% of republicans don't want sarah palin to run for president in 2012. anyway, here's the question. what does a republican victory in the bluest of blue states mean for the rest of president obama's first and perhaps only, term? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. >> he still has three years to regroup, so -- >> we'll see. >> it's happened. >> we'll see. >> whoa! >> stand by, jack. we'll discuss this and a lot more. we've got the chairman of the democratic party. he'll be joining us in a moment. the democrats very likely will have to start over on health care reform after their debacle in massachusetts. president obama appears to be ruling out any action before scott brown is sworn in as the u.s. senator from massachusetts. the president spoke to abc news.

this is mi assessment of not just the vote in massachusetts, but the mood around the country. the same thing that swept scott brown into office swept me into office. people are angry and they're frauft rated not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but the last eight years. >> i want to make sure that this is off the table. the senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through until scott brown is seated. the people of massachusetts spoke. he's got to be part of that process. >> let's come right to our senior congressional correspondent dana bash. what are they saying on the hill? >> they said today, wolf, that if anybody in this building tells you they're not more worried today about their election, you should, quote, slap them. not everybody that was colorful, but in terms of how democrats are feeling i talked to dozens of lawmakers and the emotions range from shock to disbelief to

i told you so in some cases. it's confusion and especially about the whole issue of health care and where to go from here. it seems as though sweeping health care legislation that they've worked on for months and months here seems to be close to impossible to dealing with. one idea that the president actually mentioned today we told you about last night from rank and file democrats is perhaps a smaller scaled back health care reform. the number two democrat, denny hoyer said he thinks that is a reasonable alternative and he said that after a day of meetings with a broad spectrum of democrats in the house. the problem is that scale back will also have to pass the senate and they still need, if they go through regular order, 60 votes and that is very hard to do. >> when they only have 59 that's going to be very hard. some of those 59, who knows how reliable that might be after seeing what happened in massachusetts. dana, don't go far away. i want to bring in the chairman of the democratic party, the now

form are governor of virginia, tim cain. thank you very much for coming in. >> glad to, wolf. >>. >> who is responsible for the failure in massachusetts? >> rather than apportioning blame and that's an inside the beltway game, we just need to acknowledge voters from a lot of anxieties, and legitimate anxieties and we've got to get better and we have to learn from it. the president was right. some of the same sense that we needed to create change and solve the economic woes that have been building for the last decade that swept him into office helped scott brown out. this president has had an ambitious agenda to save our economy and to get jobs from 800,000 a month losing down to less than 100 gdp growing again, and we've got more work to do and the president will remain very diligent about that. >> here was criticism on you, "the huffington post".com. let me read it to you. it says this.

tim cane seems to be running the reverse 50-state strategy, we can lose anywhere in the country. so what's he doing wrong? he's gone back to the old days at the dnc where you can hope that you can win without a message. pretty tough words and he's on the left side. >> we have more money into all 50 states and more staff and we're not going back to the old ways in terms of fund-raising. we don't take money from lobbyists or pats. we've won all five special elections in congress this year, but look, make no mistake about it. we really wanted to win last night and we didn't. that gifts us a glimpse of things that we can change and fine-tune so that we can be strong in 2010. the president understands that voters have significant anxieties. i'm proud of what this president has accomplished walking into the toughest situation since fdr in march of 1933, but he made plain it's not going to happen overnight. i do know this, wolf, voters do

not want to go backward to the republican policies of the bush/cheneyi era that put the economy into the tank. we've got to go forward and that's wah we'll do. >> although the last three state-wide elections in new jersey and they lost and governor gloria borger is here and she has a question for you. let's talk about what exactly the president needs to do to fix this. you're in the room with him, say, you're advising him, he's your good friend, what does he need to do? >> i think what we all need to do, the president has been about jobs from day one. the recovery act was about jobs and i've seen it work in my own state as it's definitely saved jobs and put people back to work. i think we all have the obligation to communicate everything we do in crisper sound bites and connect it with sustained economic growth. >> was this about communication or was it about the fact that

people didn't like health care? >> well, i think it's largely about communication. i don't look at the massachusetts vote as a referendum on health care. that's a state that has a health care plan, and i think it was not a referendum on the federal health care legislation. i think it was an expression of significant anxieties of the electorate in a very tough economy. some of the same anxieties that helped president obama win a year ago and we can tell you this, that the efforts that the president and congress has made have stopped an economy in freefall. gdp is growing again, but we're not yet seeing the job growth that we want to see. so we've got to keep on the path to do that. >> joe johns has a quick question. >> one question i have is talking to democrats around washington, many say that there may have been a problem of misreading the electorate, specifically when it comes to questions of expanding government and increasing the amount of taxes and spending and that democrats basically take the blame for that. do you think democrats have

misread the electorate as we go into the rest of the midterms this year? >> i think you've got to separate two issues. first, economists of all political spectrums are left to right all said something had to be done to stimulate an economy that was in freefall. just a year ago we were losing $8 -- 00,000 jobs per month and we couldn't stand by and watch it collapse. so there needed to be recovery spending to get the economy going again and that's what has happened. however, there does have to be recognition and the president has taken steps and he'll take more to start to deal with the size of the federal base budget and rein it in. earlier in '09 he did some things by cutting and reducing aest is spending priorities in the billions of dollars. he fought with secretary gates to shelf some obsolete weapons systems that were moving forward this year because of his concerns about their effect on the deficit, and i think in the last couple of months you've

seen the white house really start to lay out a series of steps dealing with long-term control of the federal budget and i think you will continue to see that. >> governor kaine has his work cut out for himself and thanks so much for coming into "the situation room." the number two republican in the house of representatives. he's got a lot of smiles on his face. who is more responsible for these dramatic wins that the republicans have had in state-wide elections in recent months in virginia, new jersey and now in massachusetts. would you say it's the republican establishment or the tea party movement? >> you know, wolf, i think where the electorate is they are extremely frustrated that washington is not listening. so it involves everybody. i mean who would have thought even a week ago that we would have seen the type of election victory that scott brown had in massachusetts last night? i know that we in virginiaings

several months ago would never have dreamed that bob mcdonald would win as big as he did that night and i don't think anybody would have thought new jersey wasn't even going to be close. this is a result of the people standing up and telling washington to cut it out. stop the arrogance and start listening to us. i think this is the theme that we will see continuing to play out unless this administration and the majority in congress begin to respond to the people. >> does this mean, you believe, that you can win the house of representatives and it is so extraordinary to even imagine that we are here where we are today. there's a lot of work yet still to be done, but yes, wolf, i do think that we can take back the majority in the u.s. house in november. >> michael steel, the chairman of your party. he was doubtful of that and only a couple of weeks ago, but you disagree with him. >> you know, wolf, i saw michael

steel at our inaugural as governor on saturday, and i told the chairman there, and i disagree with him on that point. >> i disagree with chairman steel on that point because i believe that the american people at this point want to see a check and balance on the one-party rule in washington that has not produced the kind of hope and change that was promised a year ago. do you have confidence in michael steel? michael steel is hard at work doing the things that he does as chairman of the rnc, yes, but i disagree with him on the notion that the prospects are taking back the house. i believe that we can take back the majority. we obviously have the wind behind us right now, but the people are looking to us to see what we're about, what our solutions are and how it diverse as far as the vision for how we take this country and in fact, to see whether it is we can provide the type of leadership that the voters decided that senator-elect brown can provide

and governor mcdonald as well as christy. >> all right. here's gloria borger and she has a question for you. >> i have a question about health care, which is if the people didn't like what's going on in washington. they see the bickering and they see republicans opposed to the president all of the time on everything, does this work both ways? are you willing to cut some deal with the president and the american people and say we'll do a scaled back version of hailth health care reform that everybody can buy into and work in a bipartisan way. >> first of all, gloria, it's not just health care last night. it was health care, but it was also the spending and it was the cap and trade bill. it was the stimulus bill, and it was all combined the fact that the people feel that washington is not listening. >> right. so what about health care? >> gloria, i met with majority leader steny hoyer several months ago and the house republicans have a plan and the plan is still there, but you

know what? as late as today we see the democrats in the house just talking to one another. they're not interested in reaching out to us as recently as a month or so ago. it's not worth our time as a majority to speak to republicans because you're not interested in a public option. >> what if they were to come to you now because clearly the situation has changed and the political din ammic is different and the public has spoken in massachusetts and what if they came to you now and said let's get together in front of the american people and do what we can do. >> again, the plan that we have offered to them to accomplish positive health care reform, bringing down costs is on the table and it's been there. you know, we keep hearing from the president and others saying that we've got to do something about special interest in washington. you know what? the public has demanded that we do something to get rid of the frivolous lawsuits and get the lawyers out of the examining room. that is something that is a

no-brainer to most people and yet there is no movement and embracing that whatsoever on the part of the majority. we've got to realize that people expect us to listen to them and effect the reform in the way that they want and not the way that some ideologically extreme agenda dictates the way the health care bill has proceeded thus far. >> congressman, we have to leave it right there. thanks very much for coming in. things have changed drat ammicly over the past year and you know as an experienced politician, things can change rappedly over the next year and we have to watch it and be careful, and i assume that you agree with me on that. >> no question it is all about listening to the people and they've spoken up now and we better meet the expectations that the people have for leadership at the federal government and to start to insist that the federal government worked for the people again and not the other way around. >> congressman eric cantor is the number two congressman in the house of representatives. you heard him say here in the

situation room, he thinks they can be the majority come november and we'll see what happens over the course of this election year. thanks very much. we'll take a quick break. there are a lot of dramatic developments happening in haiti right now. our anderson cooper is standing by. another rescue of a little kid. we'll go to hate and i sanjay gupta has more information for us. we're watching two important stories and the bombshell out of massachusetts and the continuing crisis in haiti.

okay, class, our special guest is here -- ellen page. hi, ellen! hi, ellen! hi, ellen! hi, ellen! we're going on a field trip to china! wow. [ chuckles ] when i was a kid, we -- we would just go to the -- the farm. [ cow moos ] [ laughter ] no, seriously, where are you guys going? ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! ni hao! [ female announcer ] the new classroom. see it. live it. share it. on the human network. cisco. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. at legalzoom we'll help you incorporate your business, file a patent,

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heard from the two politicians and do the republicans have a problem that can get overly cocky right now? >> any time you get overly cocky you don't do well. >> were the democrats overly calky? >> this white house has been overly cocky for a year. their tears at the inaugural, they have basically done what they promised not to do which is make washington a more partisan place. this was the biggest turnout outside of a presidential election. this was a presidential election. >> more than 2 million people and the republican candidate got more votes than any republican in history in that state. >> and usually, a special election -- >> is 10% or 15%. this was bigger and every presidential election, the only one that beat the presidential elections. >>. >> what you're saying is the republicans and conservatives and the independents who voted for scott brown were much more

energized than the democrats and they turned out. it's not like they all stayed home and this is what makes it a close election. the independent vote with 51% of the state is now an independent and had is a trend going across this country. more and more people are becoming independents and they turned out and the obama and the democrats have lost the independents. >> the independents, joe, in virginia, got the republican elected in new jersey, got the republicans elected and now in massachusetts got the republican leched. who would have thought? >> the funny thing about it is you heard from the reporting and we heard last night and i heard from telephone calls that there were democrats expressing shock and surprise about what happened in massachusetts when we've known for a long time now that there was a lot of dissatisfaction and a lot of concern about the size of government and a lot of concern about spending and there were deep divisions in the electorate all along and it also empowers people and makes people angry. all of those things coming together with two candidates in the position they were in, massachusetts, you get this

result. not a surprise. >> a lot of circular firing squads going on among the democrat depps right now. there are a lot of people aiming at each other. >> the bus is not big enough to throw people under because there are so many people, you've got selinda lake who ran, who was the pollster. >> for martha coakley. >> for martha coakley saying the white house did not see this coming at them and you have the white house saying she didn't do enough polling and she didn't do the ads properly and the republicans knew what was going on and they decided to keep it quiet and not tell anybody and sort of keep it under the radar, so yes, you do have the circular firing squads going on and it's quite unpleasant. >> it underscores the point i've been trying to make all day that things change fast in american politics and as good as it is for republicans and conservatives it can change once again and everybody has to watch closely. >> they want to be like ronald reagan. ronald reagan got his legislative agenda through the first year.

he got clobbered in the mid-term election and all of his stuff was done in the first year. we are now through the first year and we have cash for clunkers. we've spent an entire year based on what the american public. >> we won't go through the whole list right now. >> you want to run on. >> don't go away. we'll continue our coverage from the political bombshell that has emerged from massachusetts. when we come back we'll shift gears and we're going haiti. anderson cooper has witnessed something dramatic. today, eight days into this crisis in haiti, sanjay gupta is on the scene for us. stand by. our coverage from haiti will continue after this.

situation in haiti is desperate right now, but things are maybe turning a corner. let's get the latest developments on this day. you can see a powerful 5.9 magnitude tremor shaking haiti early this morning. experts don't know if these aftershocks will stop or go on, they could go on possibly for weeks according toec perts. right now off the coast of haiti, a floating hospital. the "uss comfort" arrived today with 150 medical professionals will pair with medical staff already there. it has six operating rooms and can house 1,000 patients. meanwhile, relief workers are starting to improve their corner improving their efforts in getting out aid. let's go to dr. sanjay gupta, chief medical correspondent on

the scene for us. are things getting any better right now? >> i think in some ways they are. it's the same issues that we've been talking about for some time, wolf, the idea of trying to get some of these supplies to some of these critically injured hospitals and patients. i will say that for a long time we've been focusing on what is the international aid, how quick is it coming? i had a question about how much are the haitians themselves and the haitian medical community able to do and did they stay open? i found a couple of doctors who are brothers, in fact. they told me a remarkable story. take a look. >> i think it was the end of the world. >> yah thought it was the end of the world. >> yes. >> they are haitian surgeons, jerry and marlo button, yes, they're twins. and in this community they're also heroes. when the earthquake hit they stayed open for business. >> these are two of the most renowned general surgeons in port-au-prince and trying to do

everything they can obviously for patients, but the problem is what happens even if they provide the best health care they can, with the resources they have, there is no plan after that. the international communities say look, we're providing a lot of aid to haiti and we're providing a lot of money and we're providing a lot of resources. what do you say to that? >> we don't feel it. today it's six days after six or seven, one awake. honestly, i honestly they don't send, but i personally don't see it. >> today they have far more pressing matters than worrying about when international aid will come. hardly any food, minimal water and not enough pain medications. patients are literally screaming for help. >> the sounds that you hear are sounds that you never want to hear again. hearing children screaming, knowing that they are going to have so much pain as they try to dress these wounds and not much they can do for them and not much in the way of pain medication they can do for them

and all of the patients are waiting knowing that they're next and knowing they'll endure that same sort of pain is almost impossible to watch. oh, wow. it's obviously a young boy who has significant injuries. you can see his legs. this is a severe scar. this has a lot of crush injury here. >> exactly. this leg you decided to save, though. >> yes. we saved that. this, we can't save it. >> so what do you do? >> we have a lot of patients waiting here. they finish operating, but doctor, i cannot go to the street because i don't have home. and i think to help i ask everybody who help to think about how to put -- thinking about house -- >> they don't have houses. >> you can't live without a

house. they're on the street and people will give health care, they cannot go on the street. it's impossible. >> and even near the end of the day, this is basically what continues to happen. trucks coming in with patient after patient after patient. this hospital is already full to capacity, but these two doctors are going to continue to take care of as many as they can. >> and even yesterday, wolf, they're still bringing patients they found in the rubble. certainly good stories there and people still being found alive. what that illustrates is part of the problem. these patients come into the hospital and get some treatment even by haitian doctors who stayed behind and then the question becomes now what after that? their homes are gone and they go to the streets and it's very hard to get any follow-up care and you're starting to see the next sort of stage of problems start to declare themselves, wolf. >> an jay, as you know, today we saw that little boy, eight days after that earthquake survive

and dragged out of the rubble. how long can people survive you under these conditions in rubble like that? look at this video of this little boy. >> it's an extraordinary story no matter how you look at it. i'll preface by saying kids are certainly more resilient than adults when it comes to surviving something like this. what we may be seeing, here, wolf is are cases that survival that are not documented. typically someone that goes without water can typically die after five or six days. the longest documented case of someone without any water surviving was a marathon runner who got lost in the sahara desert. he was lost for eight days before they found him. during that period of time he lost 33 pounds and needed 16 liters of fluid because he was so dehydrated and that gives you an idea of what happens in a week's time and this is an

extraordinary story of survival no matter how you look at it wolf. >> sanjay gupta doing incredible work. we'll check back with you. thank you very, very much for everything that you're doing. we'll continue our coverage with what's happening in haiti and we're going back to port-au-prince to speak with someone deeply involved with the humanitarian relief effort. also, we won't be going far away from the political story here in the united states. what happened in massachusetts and its ramifications. much more on our coverage on both of these big stories after this. wow, that's a low price! wow, that's a low price! how many products do we carry? 7,000. [ man ] wow, that's a low price! i'll get him a cart. [ man ] hot diggity dog! yeah. that's a low price! [ male announcer ] staples has low prices on everything you need for your office. and we mean everything. staples. that was easy. [ le announcer ] how do you turn a washer

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we're hearing chilling warnings from doctors in haiti, if they don't get medicine and surgical is up plays and they don't get it very soon many more earthquake victims will die. we are joined by steve holingworth, he's the chief operating officer for care usa. steve, thanks very much for doing what you're doing. how desperate is the situation rate now? >> wolf, i'm personally getting more and more concerned by the day, to tell you the truth. this has been a major body blow to haiti, and, you know, we're in now the second week of the response and the international community really is mobilizing very quickly, but the devastation has been so profound here, and it's hit in such critical areas for the country that i'm getting worried. >> what's your -- what are your immediate fears? >> well, you know, the major fear is, of course, we're in the second week and the resilience

period is coming to an end. local communities are able to cope for some time, a week, ten days with their own resources, with the support of neighbors who may have more resources than they do, but we really -- humanitarian effort begins to stick on the wall here and have a big effect, and there was a huge effort going on. there's big success in getting things into the port. the real challenge now is following through and having a series of successful distributions going on all over the country and that's a challenge for a lot of reasons. >> because so many people are worried that those who survived this earthquake might still die because of a lack of medical equipment or medicines or food or water for that matter, is that your immediate need right now to keep these people alive? >> it is. we're focused absolutely on maintaining the health of the population.

the first critical intervention is with water and making sure diarial diseases are under control. you know, the issue with that is basically there's so much infection in the air with all of the dead bodies and with the open defecation of nearly 1 million people in refugee camps here that, you know, we have to take emergency steps such as small saa shays for water purification and taking steps to distribute very quickly bottled water and that's not a good solution for anybody, and making sure we're following through and setting up small-scale water infrastructure in 116 camps that people are in. we have a very major activity with care going on in the area of lio gang and where we're establishing water blooders and filling them so the communities can begin to take water, but that's the first area. the second big concern we have, of course, is getting out emergency supplies of food and blankets and shelter, tarp

polings and we're carrying out major distributions in four areas, including two here in port-au-prince with care and we're also very concerned about the medical condition that women are facing. the health infrastructure here is really absolutely overwhelmed. six hospitals are gone, right? and trauma, obstetrics care and in particular tetanus really are becoming big worries for us. >> well, we want to wish you good luck. we know you're doing critically important work, care usa and all of these humanitarian relief organizations are on the scene. thank you so much, steve holingworth, good luck to you. we know you've got a huge mission. and those are our viewers and they want to help. you can impact your world. go to cnn.com/impact and excellent organization all of whom have been vetted and you can make a contribution. i think it's a good idea. we're staying on top of the story in haiti and we're also

watching the political fallout from the political bombshell in massachusetts. much more of our coverage after this. ÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷

we have a new member of the "situation room" team, lisa sylvester is joining us now, and we want to welcome lisa to "the situation room." she is going to be doing some excellent work for us, and i know you have other top stories that you are ready to report

right now, lisa. what is going be on? >> well, thank you for that very warm welcome, wolf. in the news, fbi director robert mueller was in the hot seat on capitol hill as he was grilled by members of the senate judiciary committee as to how the fbi responded to the terror attack on christmas. mueller defended the action of arresting and maintaining the suspect rather than turn him over as an enemy combatant. >> without detail, the agency interviewed him for a period of time with relation to ongoing and other threats. >> before or after miranda warning? >> before miranda warnings were given. >> well, that is dangerous, because any thing he said in that time is not ad mis admissia civilian court is it? >> well, i take it back, it is

an exception for an emergency situation. >> the panel is worried about a threat from yemen involving ex-cons. a panel from the senate foreign relations committee says that three dozen americans who converted to islam in prison travelled to yemen for the al qaeda training possibly. but they say there is no public evidence that the individuals have engaged in terrorist activities, but they say that some have quote dropped off of the radar for several weeks. heavy rain and winds are hitting parts of california. already flooded from the torrential rainstorms this week, law enforcement officials are going door-to-door in low-lying neighborhoods and urging the residents to evacuate, and they say that flooding and mud slides are a threat, and that is classic el nino for you. wolf? >> than you, lisa. don't go far away, because we have more work for you, lisa sylvester, the newest member of the "situation room" team.

when we come back, jack cafferty is standing by and also much more on the political bombshell out of massachusetts and what is going on in haiti. dramatic developments after this.

let's get right to jack and the cafferty file. jack? >> the question this hour, what does a republican victory in the bluest of blue states mean for president obama's first and perhaps only term in office? mary writes that it should show the president that people vote for candidates who listen to them and address their needs and issues just like he did when he ran for president. now it is business as usual, and every vote in congress sold to the highest bidder. will mr. brown be the exception? no, it is one quota that our president is yet to change. and then this one from judy, obama will remain a failed president until the rest of americans are working at good jobs, most of the rest of the

problems will not matter. bill clinton understood that. this is from a democrat in missouri. this is absolutely ridiculous. this is one race. the democrats will have 59 votes in the senate, and obama will win re-election by a landslide. thomas disagrees. health care is dead. president obama's agenda is dead. he will be a one-term president, anp then we will have eight years of palin. rick in illinois writes, this election was not a notice to the democratic party or the a vote against health care, but a notice to all that have been elected to worker to the people, do your job, stop playing politics. if i were an incumbent i would be nervous come election time republican or democrat. and rick says that the president will run to the center if he has any hope of saving the presidency much less gaining a second term, but it is not too late, because he is a charismatic leader and if he can

put the parties together, his girls can still grow up in the white house. we have a ton of stories and this is a big story for political nuts. you can go to my blog cnn.com/cafferty file and lots of stuff in there to read. >> and stuff for monormal peopl as well. >> well, if you do it as long as i do it, you are a nut. >> don't go too far away, guys. on this the anniversary of president obama's first year in office, we are looking at items from the term by the numbers, with his signature the president signed 124 bills into law. he also issued 39 executive orders and the president has held three prime time presidential addresses and five white house news conferences and racked up plenty of miles on air force one. he has visited 20 countries from canada to china to turkey, and

visited 27 states, and 7 he lost in the election and 21 others that he won. we will take a quick break and continue our coverage of what is going on in the world of politics after the massachusetts' bombshell. also, we are going back to haiti, port-au-prince, dramatic developments unfolding.

to our viewer, you are in "the situation room." happening now, eight days after haiti's catastrophic earthquake, a young boy is pulled from the rubble. as relief efforts gear up, a powerful aftershock is a remind eof how fragile the situation is for the survivors. one year after barack obama was sworn in as president, a stunning setback for his agenda and the party. it has democrats wondering where they go from here. and we will hear from the senator elect scott brown, the republican who pulled that upset in massachusetts, and he said that voters sent a powerful

message. i'm wolf blitzer and we want to welcome the viewers in the united states and around the world. world. you are in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com one year ago today, president obama's historic inauguration seemed to signal unlimited possibilities. he had an ambitious agenda and a strong majority and now the democrats are reeling from a stunning defeat in massachusetts where republican scott brown capture the seat held for decades by the late ted kennedy. so now the democrats are no longer filibuster-proof. and the agenda is up in the air. our senior congressional correspondent dana bash is standing by, but let's go to our senior white house correspondent ed henry. ed, what is the white house saying about this loss in massachusetts? >> well, when you talk to the president's inner circle, they

believe it is less about health care and more about the economy and people are anxious about the falling wages and the losing jobs. this is not a surprise to them, because the president saw it on the campaign trail in 2008 that anger was building and he channeled it to the election. but that begs the question, if they knew it was out there, why they didn't focus more last year on job, the economy, also, wall street regulatory reform, ap i put that question to robert gibbs today, and he basically said that we believe that health care and the economy are intertwin intertwined, but clearly, there was an emphasis much stronger on the economy than at the end of the year. one top adviser told me it is a lot better and the good news for the white house, this is one race in january and not dozens in november. they have a lot of time between now and then to readjust and recalibrate, wolf. >> the whole notion of where they go from here, the white house, we are going to be speaking this hour with the white house press secretary robert gibbs, but what are they saying to you?

>> well, what is interesting is that when you talk to the president's inner circle, they talk about the likelihood of a more scaled-back health care bill and the president won't give up this fight altogether and walk away. he believes it is important and he will push back, but it is likely to be a scaled back bill and one scenario floating out there that you do the insurance reforms that both sides find popular and end pre-existing conditions for example, but expand a program like medicaid to cover millions more people, but less than what they originally wanted to do, but what they believe could be a step forward and the other big thing is that they will have a much sharper turn to jobs and wall street regulatory reform, and something that the president will be talking a lot about in the state of the union next week, but the problem is that they could have been talking about that last summer and last fall and now they have to make up for a lot of lost time, wolf. >> one week from today the president delivers his state of the union address before a joint session of congress. for the democrats the big

dilemma is what to do for health care reform, and do they try to push for final passage or go back to the drawing board? let's listen to some of the congressional leaders. >> we are not going to rush into anything. as you have heard, we are going to wait until the new senator arrives before we do anything more on health care. >> heeding the particular concerns of the voters of massachusetts last night, we heard, and we will heed, and we will move forward with their considerations in mind, but we will move forward for health care. >> well, let's bring in our senior congressional correspondent dana bash, the question is how will they move forward with health care? >> what we are hearing from the democratic leaders is they will take a breath and in part saying that because they are trying to study the results, the data from massachusetts and in part saying that, because they really don't know, in fact, i think that a

big part is that they really don't know what to do next on health care. one of the things they are talking about here and scrambling all day, and meetings really all day long among the democrats on how to go forward. one of the thing they are talking about is what ed mentioned a scaled back version of health care reform, and something that would be maybe some bite-sized pieces of the things that members of congress that i have talked to say they are hearing from the constituents that they really want them to focus on. i spoke to a couple of rank and file democrats about that. >> in time, and we will pull together the elements of the house and the senate bill that we know can make it through to lay the framework for where we need to go. >> i want the boldest bill we can possibly, you know, get on the president's desk that comes through the congress. we have to don't votes, and you need 60 in the senate to have lunch, never mind pass a health care bill, so that the reality that we have the deal with. >> dana, what are you hearing about possible ways that the senate could get health care

passed with 51 votes as opposed to the 60 that they usually need to break a filibuster? >> it is something that they are talking about, and the finance chairman max baucus told me point blank the solution to health care here is probably in a term called reconciliation, and it is in the weeds burk sw will hear about it in the future and that is pushing health care through with the votes, and they are talking about even the scaled back version if that is what they kn collude they need to do, that will be hard to pass with 60 votes, so it is part of the discussion, but it sounds tonight according to the deidre washington, and others over at the house as we speak that the idea of passing the bill in the house is not completely dead if in fact, these members are telling them if in fact the congress and the senate can use so-called reconciliation to deal with the fixes and the changes they have been negotiating between the two bills if that is

done first sot that t, so that knows they are doing that, perhaps some of the most ardent opponents could hold their nose and vote for it. that is one option, but i must emphasize that there is a lot of confusion on what to do next. >> for the democrats some bad options and even worse. >> you said it. >> and thank you, dana. it is only one seat in the united states senate, and a special election, but this off-year win by the gop has far-reaching implications. we will bring in some members of the best political team on television, and david gergen is here, and joe johns is still here and gloria borger is here. is this over for the democrats for what they envisioned for health care reform? >> i think that the major health care reform bill probably died last night. having been through the clinton failure in '93 and '94, this has a similar feel about it, that, you know, there has been something surreal about this for

a long time, and that is that the public opposition has been strong, and nationwide against this health care reform now for a couple of months. wolf, we have not had a major piece of social legislation passed in this country since the great depression that i can find, that has been so strongly opposed as this health care reform. i think that the massachusetts' vote essentially pushed it over to the side a little bit, but that is not the say they can't get something important done, but the big grand proposal is dead. >> let's bring in bill bennett who is a host of a radio talk show. bill, what do you think about the prospect of the democrats still salvaging health care reform any time soon? >> i think it is very hard. i agree with david. it is very hard. it is interesting, too, isn't it, if you think about it and you say it is one senate vote, and you are right, there are 59 democratic votes in the senate, and huge majority in the house, and yet they seem kind of powerless, don't they? there is a reason for that, and it is because the proposals that

are on the table are not within the akin of the center of american politic, and that is why they are having so much trouble and resistance. i think it is dead for the year, and they waste ad large pad a l the year and now they are saying, we will get on the issue of economics and jobs. i am not trying to gloat here, but obviously i am pleased with the outcome of the election, but they are going to wake up to the main concern of the american people. >> what is worse for the democrats, bill bennett, dropping health care at this late stage or moving forward and getting something passed from the strictly political perspective? >> well, you know, there is another problem, wolf, as you know. i heard one comment and i can't remember which congressman it was, and you may recall who said, they have abandoned the base in abandoning the public option in the senate. they have abandoned the left

part, the left strain of the republican party and to go further into the direction of the republicans could further alienate that base, and that creates more problems. i think they are better off dropping it and saying, okay, message received and we understand what the top priority is for the american people, and now we will address it, and health care has to wait for another day, and they can then in the near future with the republicans do something in a bipartisan way, and save face that way. >> for the republicans, who deserves more credit or credit for turning things politically around? the republican establishment leadership or the tea party, and the sort of renegades in the conservative movement who don't like the establishment at all? >> well, both. you know, it has been a theme, wolf, as you know of a lot of the critics that there is a civil war in the republican party, and there are obviously

differences in disagreements, but what you saw in massachusetts is everybody pulling in the same direction. believe me, i know them all. i have tentacles, and we have tentacles in the radio to all parts of the movement, and everybody was for scott brown, so some of the notion of a deep schism is exaggerated. yes, differences will come out, and wolf, i heard one person say when conservative groups said, we have to watch brown when it comes to supreme court nominees, and they won't give the guy 24 hours, but it is remarkable unanimity and pretty low profile for a lot of people. everybody asked where mitt romney was, and a lot of his people were working it well and effectively, but a lot of credit to scott brown. some say that coakley is a bad candidate and we now have new jersey and massachusetts and virginia and the case is strong that people are saying no to what they are seeing.

>> bill bennett joins us as he often does as a political contributor. the best political team on television is standing by to assess what is going on in the political front in the united states. there are huge significant developments there. and we will go to haiti, where there is a exodus under way or an attempted exodus. we will have the latest for you. welcome to idaho, where the world's best potatoes come from.

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let's get right to jack cafferty with the cafferty tile. >>t a the end of the day, there will be an overwhelming number of orphans in haiti in the aftermath of last week's earthquake and before the quake it was estimated that haiti, one of the world's poorest countries 380,000 orphans, kids who have lost one or both parents and some lost their mothers and fathers in previous disasters and deadly storms and hurricanes and others were orphaned in haiti's political turmoil. aid groups are estimating that the number could climb up into the hundreds of thousands and perhaps approaching 1 million. unicef is saying that the scale has reached unbearable proportions. countries are trying to help pick up the piece, and the u.s. has announced a humanitarian policy to allow some orphans into the country temporarily, and dozens of the kids have arrived in pittsburgh and the government is trying to speed up

haitian ad dopgs in the works, and the catholic church is trying to bring thousands of these kids into the united states permanently. other children are being adopted by dutch families brought to group homes in the neighboring dominican republic, but there are so many of them. some experts worry that the children may be shipped overseas or adopted before it is clear whether they still have extended family members alive in haiti. there is a concern that at this time of chaos, these kids could wind up the victims of fraud, abuse, or trafficking in children. although tragedies and heart break come out of haiti seem to have no limits, it seems entirely possible when it is all said and done that the youngest and the most vuler nenerable i society are the hardest hit. so here is the question, what ought to happen to hundreds of thousands of haitian orphans? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and come up with an idea or two, because we could use them. >> it is heartbreaking. donna brazile is here and paul

begala, and so many of you moved by what we are seeing, and this is heartbreaking. donna, what is the answer? >> we have to step up, and we have to do more. we have to adopt the kids and make sure they are not abused and part of some human slavery trafficking chain. we have to give now and i am proud of the work that cnn is doing in educating the american people on the importance of us helping the kids from haiti. >> how many times a day when you watch our reporting from haiti do you break down and start to cry? >> well, not only broke down and cried, but i have given just about every dime i can thom to help the people of . i remember how generous the people were to my family. and paul begala, and my dad has his couch in my living room, and my sisters and brothers benefitted from an outpouring all over the country, and the american people have given and i want to say thank you but we can still do more. >> i know, paul, it is moving for you, and there are people out there who have not gone to

cnn.com/impact, and made a contribution and hard to believe. >> well, it is easy to do, and this is one of the deals where the old cliche is give until it hurts, and this is give until it feels good. we are here and safe and proekted the and loved and prosperous and i have to say that the american people are stepping up. as generous as we were for example in katrina, i saw statistics that said that americans have donated 50% more than that to our brothers and sisters in haiti. if you look at the work that the catholic relief charities, and clinton foundation, who has done work for years in haiti, but al of the experts say to send cash. i spoke to a nonprofit who said, it costs so much money to sort through the stuff that we want to give t-shirts and the blanket, and he said, please, tell everybody to send cash. so, folks, send cash. >> standby, and we will continue to coverage to haiti, and we will go back there shortly, because ivan watson is there on the scene, and sanjay gupta has

done amazing reporting and so has anderson cooper. more on haiti coming up, but back to the political party. what is behind scott brown's stunning victory in massachusetts. the senator has a explanation, and candidates in upcoming races may want to pay close attention. listen to this. >> i think that the message from traveling around the state, and i have tried to do some self-reflection and analyzing as to why i am standing before you today, and really the number one thing that i have heard is that people are tired of the business as usual and the pundits and i will let them determine what this means in terms of the national race, but it is important to know that the main thing that they want is good government back and to be part of the process, and think they sent a very powerful message that business as usual is not way to do it. >> do you see yourself as the senator to go down there as the 41st vote and put the brakes on the obama agenda? >> well, first of all, i had a great conversation with the

president first of all. i don't no if i shared that with you, but he called, and called right away, which i thanked him for and he said i hope to meet with you and having an opportunity to work with you and he said, i heard you are open-minded and independent guy. i said, well, mr. president, i want to meet you, too, because you have a wonderful family and i have always had great respect for your accomplishments and by the way, do you want me to bring the truck. i said that, and he laughed. he said, well, when i came down there, i didn't go at you too hard. i said, well, i have a basketball player daughter, and you pick your best and we will play you two on two. he laughed again. and mr. president, we may not agree on some things, but you have a sense of humor and you have to have a sense of humor about politics. >> alex castellanos is one of the contributors and republican strategist is standing by and he is an impressive politician for someone most of us never heard

of only a few weeks ago. >> well, it seems that the state senators are coming out of nowhere to become president or take senate seats in unexpected places. yes, he is impressive and won ten elections, and impressive, but he benefitted from a wave. i was looking at the polls that two-thirds said they were voting for her, and one-half said they were voting for him, but the other half said to send a message to washington. >> you can't blame martha coakley. >> well, it is a good start. set that ags side. >> well, going in, she had a good brand. >> and yet, she lost a race that anyone should have won. but give senator elect brown his due. alex is right, and just right there showed poise and humor and really interestingly, look at what he said, perhaps here in washington, we are overanalyzing the health care piece of this. massachusetts may be a unique situation, because they have 98% of the people covered and a lot of them were perhaps worried

that the obama plan would endanger their plan, but he talked about reform, and this is something that the democrats better take to heart here. barack obama on his own without reform refused to take money from lobbyists and he should challenge his republican friends. and i would like to see some of the things he said. >> well, give the president of the united states a piece of advice here right now? >> well, he should fake a chapter from the book that -- he should take a chapter from the bock that scott brown wrote and that is spend as much time talking to the people of the united states and not focus og whan the l -- focusing on what the politicians are doing, find out what the american people are interested in and keep them with the president. >> don't dissect this, because we are watching this political story, and we are going back to

port-au-prince, haiti. ivan watson is on the scene now and there is an exodus under way that could have serious ramifications not only for the lives of the haitianings but a lot of other people. standby, because our coverage continues after this. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the cadillac cts sport sedan. one of car and driver's 10 best for the third year in a row.

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back to port-au-prince, haiti, in a few moments, because there are dramatic developments under way right now. standby. we will get back to the political story, we are following the gop's upset

victory in massachusetts. it is certainly having democrats reeling. their filibuster-proof majority in the senate is gone. that presents the democrats with a dilemma when it comes to health care reform legislation. joining us now the white house press secretary robert gibbs. robert, do you want the house to pass the senate version of health care reform? >> wolf, that is certainly one of the options that is being discussed here and on capitol hill. i know that the president believes that health care reform is important. we watched the president travel for two years talking to small businesses, talking to families about the high cost of health care, the struggles that they had, and those concerns are still had by those families and small businesses today. you won't see him abandon the effort for health care reform. >> so, that option is on the table, but is it do-able though? do you have enough democrats in the house to fapass the senate

version so it does not need to go back to the senate? >> obviously, that is one of the things, wolf, we are working through, and they are working through on capitol hill in order to get a comprehensive piece of legislation, quickly to the president's desk, so we can get important insurance reformers enacted into law quickly. >> what are the other options do you have? >> oh, there are a good host of options, wolf, all of which are being discussed in our own situation room. >> well, it sounds like to me that the president doesn't want to jam anything down at least not right now. it sounds like he wants to scale back and fry to cotry to come u more modest reform package that might require 51 votes in the senate. is that another option he is looking at? >> well, wolf, what the president said clearly today was the idea that some had in ramming something through the senate before senator-elect brown was seated is not an

option as far as he is concerned. we are not going to go that route. a bill has already passed the senate, so one of the options is as you mentioned earlier is to try that legislation through the house. but, again, the president is focused on getting something done and it is long past time to get health care reform passed into law and make it a reality for american families. >> but if necessary, would you do that 51 majority senate vote as a backup? >> well, look, there are far better strategies to work through right now that are being looked at as to how to get this stuff done. >> as you remember, originally the president wanted it done by the august recess, and then by the thanksgiving recess, and then by the christmas recess, and then by the state of the union address, and it has gone on and on and on. what was the problem here? >> well, look, this is a pretty complex piece of legislation. it has had to go through three committees onp the house side, and three committees on the

senate side, and to be passed by both the house and the senate and every step of the way, the special interests, the insurance companies in this country have run millions of dollars of advertising to try to slow down the process so that a child that is now being discriminated against by an insurance company because they are telling that family that that child has a pre-existing condition, they don't want to see progress on those types of issues in the country. the president has pushed games at the special interests in washington, against the health insurance lobby, and that is why the president is determined to get something done. change takes a long time in washington, wolf. i am here today exactly one year after i first came to work at the white house, and we have not done all that we want to do to change the way that washington works, but the president woke up today just as he did a year ago, determined to change the way that washington works. >> here is what the president said exactly one year ago on this day. listen to this. >> those of us who managed the public's dollars will be held to

account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government. >> the president says do our business in the light of day. transparency. but a lot of the negotiations were done behind closed doors, and backroom deals with the pharmaceutical industry for example and labor unions and special interest and all sorts of other special interests, and the republicans took full advantage of this. >> i be thaet tt that the most story you did throughout 2009 was health care and you are not about to say it is inaccurate, because you got information on what we were discussing and you watched hearing committees, and house and floor debate, and you watched the hearings here at the white house, and you have a list of every person who has walked into the white house who has

come to talk to an official about health care. this is the most transparent white house in the country. we now release the list of people who come here for meetings, and something that has never been done, and not just in recent time, but never been done in the history of the country. the president is focused on and met the promise of transparency, and the american people can have confidence that they know what is going on in the government. >> but the promise that all of the negotiations backroom deals would be on c-span has not been met. >> well, i -- i don't agree with the notion that they are backroom deals, and if they are, then how do you know about them? how are you reporting on them? ed henry who is standing over there gets information from me and others and is able to accurately report on them. look, wolf, i know we have all got a script and we have to say certain things, but be honest and forthright with the american people, you have covered health

care more than any other single issue in the past year, because you have had and watched the debate transpiring in the country, and it has been transparent. >> we didn't have access to the negotiations, the discussions that you had for example with the pharmaceutical industry in washington. we learned about it after the deal was made, but we didn't watch it unfold. >> but you learned about what was in it, wolf. that is what ed reported, that is what you have talked about. the reason that you rare talkin to me about it, is the fact that it is open, and if it is a secret, it is a poorly kept secret. >> well, we learned about it after the fact, and not as it happens. >> i am happy to come to the editorial meetings to find out how the news happens, but this is the single most transparent administration in the history of the country. people wanted a list of the people who come to the white house to talk about health care,

and we release that list. and in the past, you had to go to the supreme court, and transparency has happened in the white house and happened under president obama's watch and people feel confident about that. >> why have the democrats in three statewide elections in virginia, new jersey and now in massachusetts, lost? >> for different and varying reasons. obviously, gubernatorial races are different from senate races. there is a anger and frustration in the country that the president heard and was elected hearing and inaugurated a year ago. that same anger continues in the country, because there is a genuine frustration that we haven't seen more progress on the economy, that unemployment continues to be at 10%, and the president hears and understands that anger, and he is focused

each and everyday on getting our economy back on track. >> robert gibbs is the white house press secretary and thank you very much for coming into "the situation room." >> wolf, i'm happy to do it. >> all right. back to haiti in a moment. we will continue our political coverage, but brian todd is on the scene. he has witness ad rescue, a r--a rescue on the scene. much more ahead.

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eight days into the aftermath of the earthquake in haiti there are still people who are surviving amidst the rubble. courageous teams of search-and-rescue are on the scene. let's bring in brian todd who is on the ground in port-au-prince, and there is new hope that someone may be alive under the rubble. >> wolf, we are in a building in downtown port-au-prince. totally collapsed structure and we are here because the l.a. county fire and rescue team, and the canine team, and you see the dog there, and they have two positive hits earlier today, and they came back here and this dog and another one, and they excavated again and they got more positive hits and the dogs were barking, and they have the team down here and they will bring in more personnel, and they believe somebody could be alive over here. and our photographer floyd yarmouth is going to come with me, and you can see the devices in here, and floyd, pan into the sonar devices, orange ones.

wolf, when the dogs get a positive hit, they put these sensors up to detect any human movement, and even faint, breathing or anything. and we have to move out of the way, because there is a truck with more rescue people here coming in. pretty dramatic scene and crowd gathering behind us, and we are getting initial reports that people could be alive in here, and we will stay here and monitor the situation, wolf. >> brian is coming back in the next hour with an update. there have been some developments. standby for that. lisa sylvester is also standing by with new video just coming in. what are you seeing, lisa? >> well, wolf, you want the take a look at the brand new video from haiti, and it is showing the exact moment the earthquake hit last week. take a look at. this you can see the panicked customers at the port-au-prince bakery as they are running for their lives as soon as they felt the earth shake, and take a look at this video.

now the bakery, itself, it didn't collapse, but there is a building across the street that did. the bakery's owner managed to reopen after electricity was restored, but just amazing video, wolf, as you take a look at people going through basically trying to run for their lives and trying to escape, and it is clear that they knew what was going on, and that they had to escape the building and good thing they did, wolf. >> so many unfortunately did not. but that video is obviously very dramatic. lisa sylvester, don't go away, because we are going back to port-au-prince in a moment. ivan watson is standing by with much more coverage from haiti right after this. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the cadillac cts sport sedan. one of car and driver's 10 best for the third year in a row. ♪ and now, cadillac announces the new luxury collection lease.

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we want to update you now on one of the amazing rescues in haiti. yesterday, the world was watching and anderson cooper was there as 70-year-old anna zizi was pulled from the catholic cathedral in port-au-prince where she had been trapped for a week. she says that for the first several days of her ordeal, she talked to her priest who was also trapped nearby, but she says that he eventually fell silent, and after that, she simply prayed and waited. she was air lifted to the ""uss bataan" where she is treated for a dislocated hip, and doctors on board say she is resting comfortably right now, and we wish her a speedy, speedy

recovery, and this is an amazing woman right now. there is also a new chapter unfolding at haiti's earthquake disaster saga. survivors are now trying to flee the capital in growing numbers. cnn's ivan watson is joining us from port-au-prince. ivan, tell the viewers what you are seeing. >> well, we have already been seeing people going out by road, but today, down at the port of port-au-prince, there was dramatic scenes and evidence of how desperate people are to get out, wolf. thousands of people lining a fi filthy wharf there where they are hoping to catch a ferryboat where the government promised to give free passage to another port west of port-au-prince about 100 miles away. they had been staying there for days, and they had no information about when or where the ferry would be coming to. when the ferry did finally appear, they all jumped into wooden row boats and overloaded,

and they were dangerously close to capsizing and swarmed the ship. climbing on board and passing the children up, and babies up, hand-by-hand, and that ferryboat i was told by the owner is only supposed to carry 600 people, and instead, there were clearly thousands on board, clearly not enough life vests in case of an emergency and clearly not enough lifeboats if there was an emergency, and it was a potential maritime disaster if anything went untorrid out at sea, but this crowd of people all desperate to escape this shattered city, wolf. >> what else is going on, on this day, day eight after the earthquake, what else are you seei seeing, ivan? >> well, we spent a lot of our time down at this location, and spoke with the people working down at the port, which has suffered a lot of damage. we did see that french naval vessels had docked there, and that a u.s. freight ship, and u.s. military freight ships were scouting out the area, but this

morning's aftershock was massive and registered at close to 6.0 on the magnitude of 6.0, and it did additional damage to what was left of the port. we saw new buckling in the port, and that u.s. divers, military divers were working in the area trying to see what damage had been done, and the wharf is even more beaten up, and that will complicate more attempts to bring in more aid to city that we all know needs help so much right now. this is complicating this operation, wolf. >> complicated and heartbreaking, indeed. ivan watson is one of our reporters doing an outstanding job for us in haiti. much more on the story coming up here in "the situation room." also, the political story that we are watching what is happening from the fallout of the massachusetts' special election for united states senator, and we are assessing what is going on. we have new information and the coverage continues after this. host: did the waltons take way too long to say goodnight?

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lisa sylvester is monitoring some of the other top stories in "situation room." >> some gruesome seem of charred bodies and some reaching upwards and victims of sectarian fighting has reportedly killed more than 200 people since sunday. it is unclear what started the violence between groups of christians and muslims. one official says it began after the muslims set a christian church on fire, but other community leaders deny that. virginia police say that bomb squads are detonating several explosives at the home of a man accused of going on a deadly shooting rampage. 39-year-old christopher speight surrendered to authorities this morning ending a massive manhunt. he is accused of fatally shooting eight people yesterday and all of the victims were found in or around speight's house. they say that the suspect knew his victims, but they are not speculating on a possible

motive. charges are pending. and "the new york times," well, it is going to start charging the viewers to read the online content. or the online content. readers will be only allowed to read a set number of articles for free. the times says that the paperer is making the change to create a second revenue stream. and print subscribers, they will don't have free access to the paper's website. so changes afoot. wolf? >> thanks very much, lisa little vester, the newest member of our "situation room" team. we welcome lisa sylvester here. jack cafferty is standing by with the cafferty file. we are watching the politics, the outcome of the senate race, the republican wins and we are going back to haiti for the latest developments. how efficil their car will be. the first ever hs hybrid.

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back to jack for the cafferty file. fresh in from hour, what should happen to the hundreds of thousands of orphans. when it's all over, there could be close to 1 million of kids down there with no paints. there is no doubt the that the people of haiti need help. stealing their future generation is not the way to do it. speed up adoptions, cut the red tape and assist the haitian people with an orphanage system in their own country. jeff in connecticut writes there is no key not to produce to many orphans in the first place. this is the fault of the catholic church in which 80% of

haitians subscribe to. and they don't use birth control. the reality is more hungry children come into the world needlessly barbara saying w have adopted four siblings here in the sbus they are grown. we would open our home and i know others who would do the same. elaine says setting you orphanages for children is the best thing. there are organizations to monitor the orphanages so abuse and trafficking does not occur. and b. writes, we can't afford to pay for them in on overburdened system. we need to take care of our people first. and amanda says, the vetting process should begin now. and now that be allowed to adopt

one of the children identified as an orphan before the quake. if you want to know about the pore fans go to my blog. >> look at the pictures of the kids, the little kids. >> heartbreaking. >> you can see the desperation on their faces. it's heart braking. >> thanks. we will go back there. brian todd is watching a rescue operation unfolding eight days, eight days after the earthquake hit. also we are watching the united states and the world of politics. the obama administration facing a new reality, one day since the answer verry obama was inaugurated. advisor:... ms. davis, this is onstar. i've received a signal you've been in a crash... i'm contacting emergency services... 911 dispatch:...onstar reporting a front end crash... on wakefield road... chevy malibu... fire/ems:...air bags deployed... ...injuries reported... advisor: ma'am, help is on the way...ok.

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commentary. don't look now thank you bu it's the winning candidates' daughter breaking the news to the scott that scott brown's opponent conceded. >> my dad is the next senator of massachusetts zblmplt. >> but we really got to meet the two daughters when he had a dad said what moment? >> they are both available. no, no. >> reporter: a la whispered -- >> not arianna. >> no, you did but she is. >> reporter: is it just plan creepy. in photo began circulating on the web. found a picture of scott wearing

clothes. that stems from this, scott posing for "cosmopolitan". >> he is hot. he rang by bell. >> reporter: bells were ringing for the senator daughters as well. the younger daughterer is a premed student. and 23 the older daughter looks vaguely familiar you may have seen her on season five of "american idol" a few years back. but the "american idol" river was too wide for ala. >> it was good, it wasn't fantastic. >> reporter: she left with her self-in tact. and what so what if he dad hit an odd note.

watch mom's face. but this is one happy day as aa la picked confetti out of her cleavage. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. exactly one year after president obama took offense his promise of change is taking on a whole new meaning. he and the democrats have turned their political world turned upside down in massachusetts. we want to welcome our viewers around the united states. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we are following the fall out of scott brown one ted kennedy's senate seat. the democrats are losing a political advantage they fought hard to get. now the president's party is

forced to rethink its strategy on health care reform, the obama agenda. we have extensive coverage coming up this hour on what's going on in the world of politics, the bombshell as a result of the election in massachusetts. we also have extensive coverage coming up on the situation in haiti. eight days after the earthquake, we go back there live. there are survivors emerging from the rubble today. sanjay gupta, anderson cooper, we are going to watch the stories. right now, the world of politics. the best political team on television is standing by. we are all of our analysts, d donna brazil, paul willgala and red rollins. and john sking here, over at the

magic wall. john, this election last night, certainly having major, major ramifications. >> 14 months of barack obama wins by 26 points, a little known state senator wins. i want to show you a closer look how it happened. here is a map of the election in 2008. this is 14 month guys. president obama called all across the state. it will's move to the senate race. the blue counties, coakley. and the red, scott brown. let's you go go through the numbers. and a key point. here are the statewide results. 52% to 47%. and 1% for joseph kennedy, no relation to the long time kennedy family. here are the results in boston.

this is suffolk county. and coakley won handily. and look at that again, independent registration is low, and coakley winning big. i want to point out, this is norfolk county this is typical where the registration of the independents is more than half of scott brown, 56, and mar ka that coakley, 44. what scott brown did is tap discontent among independents. the very voters that gave obama the size of his margin win in 2008. and we saw it in massachusetts last night. this is amazing in this county here. and wolf, remember, this isn't a one-shot wonder. republicans are energized more and more this morning. in massachusetts a traditionally blue state, independents came to them. and this is why the republicans

think this race in massachusetts is something they can use to build on nationally. the concern of taxing and spending, the health care legislation and terrorism that was a key part of the brown company in the closing weeks. >> you were there at boston, you spent time there. and you are from there. why is the political momentum a year after president obama was sworn in as president of the united states, swinging to the conservatives and the republicans? >> because the democrats are in charge in washington and voters are still just as anxious or more anxious about the very issues that drove president toeb a victory in 2008. they are still concerned about unemployment. it's higher than in 2008. they are concerned about unfair use of government resources to bail out banks on waut street. george bush started that program and president obama continued it. and he promised, we are going to get along in washington. and voters now, see washingtons

a more partisan than it was back in 2008. so the economic anxiety transferred to obama and the democrats and the independent voters who want a change to 2008 still want it. the problem for the democrats, they are now the party in change. the surprise winner massachusetts, scott brown. he says voters sent a message they are tired of business as usual. should his fellow republican being wary around the country? listen to this? >> maybe there is a new breed of republican coming to washington. maybe they will look to somebody who is not holding to the special interests of the party and will look to just solve problems. i have always been that way. i supported clean elections. i'm a self-imposed trim person. i believe strongly we are there to serve the people.

>> david gergen is here. you live thereupon in massachusetts. give us your sense of how surprising this election was. >> well, the last few days, the results were not surprising. but still the election was stunning. i mean, historically this is a stunning election, especially after barack obama won by 26%. and they controlled the offices and the congressional delegation. but i want to emphasize what scott brown did and why he is different in part. wolf f you want to his website on the company, it's hard to find, i don't think it was on there, that he was a republican. he ran strictly as an independent. he didn't have the rep heavy weights come in. >> pretty smart. >> and what democrats have to be concerned about tonight is not simply massachusetts, but there are a lot of polls in other states now around the country,

you find that generally speaks, independents are breaking 2-1 against democrats right now. >> smart strategy. in new jersey and virginia, the republican candidates won and they did the same thing. >> i have a democratic, what we call a welcome sheet. ed is familiar with this. two years ago, the entire sheet was filled with regesterred democrats. yesterday i was shocked that half the sheet, half the so-called democratic presence, it's not independents. this is a wake-up call, not just to democrats but to republicans as well. we can't rely on them going out on the last minute. and say turn out. >> when you worked for ronald reagan in the early '80s, he had a wake-up call and he took action. >> if he 459 votes in the senates we could be in

dreamland. we get with 51, 52. this president still has an opportunity to put it back together again. but he needs to take a loud message from yesterday, and that is the country doesn't like the wake it's going. i don't think he liked pelosi. polls are very accurate. you want a poll and the office says you have approval. and there are people who will be worried about their own seats and they not be inclined because the president does not give you coverage. >> i want to bring in paul moch how vulnerable are some of the democrats in the senate who are seeking re-election? >> very. but so too are the republicans. democrats have lost every statewide election since barack obama won. but republicans have lost every congressional race, every house race. it's too early to tell but it

suggests it may not be like 1994 when remanaged to lose 54 house seats and the republicans lost zero. this could be a broader anti-republican year. and scott brown did not run as a republican today. and disavowing parts of his party. and you watch that democrat candidate who surrounded herself with the democratic nation. and democrats are capable of being outside onners and more capable of being pop lists. >> alex doesn't agree. >> i think most that paul was talking about were last year. and it's not just massachusetts. it's virginia and up and down the ballot. it's mayor races in north carolina and florida. there is an anti-insider way that the pickup truck here beat the washington limousine.

they are sag, the guys in charge of washington, they don't listen to us. they are promtss to lower health care cost and they gave us an april-dollar bill and they want change. >> there are democratic leaders who instead of seeing the big picture, they are blaming martha coakley and the bad company. >> well, she ran a bad company. she ran a weak campaign. some say it's malpractice if you can't wane in the state with someone who was known in the state and was popular in the state. but to ed rollin's' point here, republicans looked at their polls early on and alex can tell us about this, because he was doing the polls. looked at the polls early on and identified harry reid and nancy pelosi as the bad guys. they were the bad guys here. and what did the white house do? he handed health care over to

harry reid and to nancy pelosi to avoid being like hillary clinton. so they went so far over that way that i gave the republicans exactly what they were looking for. >> stand by. we have a lot more to assess on what's going on. this is a huge, huge storely are enormous ramifications and we will get a better sense of how president obama plans to move fore ward within he delivers a state of the union address. it begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern next wednesday right here on cnn. more on the political story coming up. also we are watching what is happening in haiti. we are going to port-au-prince. a 5-year-old survivored eight days into the earthquake. we have an update after this. as having to decide to go for it? at the hartford, we help businesses of all kinds...

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get to jack for the cafferty file. >> the republican victory in massachusetts could be the final nail in the coffin for the democrats' health care reform. exit poll shows that health care was the single most important issue to massachusetts voters yesterday. it found 52% of those surveyed opposed to the health care reform. and 42% say they cast the overhaul to what is going on in congress. without the 60 vets in the senate, they are left to few

options, none good and some what complicated procedures. the house could pass the bill that cleared the senate as is. but several house democrats won't go along with that idea. they could pass the current senate bill and try to get it with reconciliation. or the democrats can scrap what they had and try to pass a bare bones bill that includes the most popular initiatives. several democrats are calling for the health care reform to be suspended. and it appears president obama is getting that message too. he says the senate should not shove health care through. he said that people here in massachusetts spoke. he's got be part of that process. so here's the question, how should the democrats proceed on health care now that they no

long ver the votes to pass it in the u.s. senate? go to cnn.com/cafferty file. >> this is a huge issue as all of the viewers know. stand by. more coming up on this story. the politics of what is going on. a dramatic day in politics. but let's go to haiti now. a 5-year-old boy is healing after spending eight days in his home. his mother was killed and his father is missing. and also in haiti a senior administration official tells cnn several rescue teams are searching the hotel montana piece by piece by piece. so far, they haven't found anyone on this day. people screamed and prayed when

a strong 5.9 after shock struck haiti earlier this morning. a u.n. official said some buildings collapsed but a small town close to the epicenter of the after shock. check out video of the big 7.0 earthquake hit. you can see a building disappear. and we just learned president and mrs. obama donated 10 15$,000 from their personal bank account to help victims. brian todd is standing by. he has firsthand eye wince account oaf a rescue mission that is under way. our coverage continues after this.

lisa sylvester is monitoring the top stories in "the situation room" right now. what is going on? >> hi, sharp words on capitol hill today during separate hearing about the attempted bombing of an airliner on christmas. dennis blair admitted to a misstep and is questioning if abdulmutallab should have been treated as a civilian suspect. a special investigation team should have talked to the suspect. >> we did not invoke the hig in the case. we should have. we are thinking overseas people. and duh, we didn't put it in. that's what we will do now.

and we need to make those decisions more carefully. >> he says a decision to file criminal charges against abdulmutallab in federal court was made by the fbi agent at the scene and he us not consulted. a senate panel is warning of a threat in yemen involves american ex-cons. as many as three dozen americans who converted to islam in prison have traveled to yemen possibly for al qaeda training. u.s. officials say there is no public evidence they have engaged in terrorist activities. a bomb scare at an airport in munich may have been a personal alarm. a laptop computer bag triggered an alert. the passengers who owned the bag

grabbed the bag and fled. he may have been in a hurry. part of the airport was shut down. police are still searching for the man. and heavy rain and strong winds are hitting parts of southern california, already flooding from rainstorms this week. law enforcement officials are going door to door and urging the reds dents there to get out and evacuate. they say flooding and mud slides are a real threat. >> lisa, thanks so much. lisa sylvester with other news. we are going back to haiti in a moment. brian todd is standing by. he is getting ready to report. he is getting the latest information on a search and rescue operation. we will shek in after this. ♪ [ male announcer ] you've wanted to quit smoking so many times, but those days came and went

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let's check in on a rescue drama unfolding now in haiti, eight days after that massive earthquake. brian todd is on the scene. tell our viewers where you are right now and what's happening. >> reporter: wolf, we're in downtown port-au-prince at the site of a collapsed auto parts store. behind me, the l.a. county search and rescue team is bigging, the top after collapsed auto parts store.

the reason we got here, earlier today, we were with them when it happened. the canine teams came upon this site and the dogs had a positive hit. and they sent more dogs in. the dogs got a lot of energy. they barked several times. at least four dogs got four or five positive hits three or four different times in the course of the afternoon. this gives them a positive signal there could be people alive inside. they went in with listening devices and snakes going into the crevasses -- >> it looks like that picture froze up. we will check with brian. maybe it's been fixed. you can hear me? unfortunately, we can see brian and can't here him.

we will reconnect with him. a search and rescue operation around way eight days after the earthquake hit. they are finding a few people alive. joining me on the phone from the united nations is the official in charge of the stab lags in haiti. thakts for joining us. how bad is the situation right now? >> it's pretty bad, wolf. for a week we are still involved in the search and rescue efforts. many bodies still being recovered. and, i mean, it's chaos down here on the ground. as you know, the mission was hit quite badly. the leadership of the mission disappear, isn't accounted for or died. so we are putting the mission back on its feet so we will be able to better serve the people

in hay 2i. more and more, every day, we are improving. the security forces are in connection with the police and providing assistance and delivering water. and also with the canadian and american troops on the ground, it's improving. every day, we are perfecting the way we workwork and improving. of course we are extremely impressed so many people around the world coming to haiti and helping. and the spontaneous presence here is fortunate save many lives. but i think in a few days when the urgent situation is over, it will be important to go to a different phase when better coordination will be needed to identify the priorities on the ground and any assistance that comes from abroad is targeted,

for the real needs of the country at that time. >> what we did see today was some indication that haitians by the thousands want to get out thereof. they might be getting on boat ors rafts or whatever to simply escape. that is a dangerous, ominous situation. how worried are you about that? >> it's not only by sea. at the american embassy, the canadian embassy, you see thousands of people lining up and and plan to get a vees is an or something. and also the exodus from port-au-prince to the other provinces, that is something that is happening. and we have troops in other provinces and i can't bring them to port-au-prince to strengthen our efforts here, because i don't want to deplete them in other provinces. so the earthquake will have an effect all over on the country.

>> sbren seeing the pictures of looting, some violence on the streets of port-au-prince. is the united nations capable of dealing with this? >> yeah, i think the security situation is under control. it is true that some looting has happened but it's not a generalized situation. those are very isolated incidents here and there, which is normal in these kinds of circumstances. but naib neighborhoods in port-au-prince are calm. people have reacted in a very responsible way. and very calm way. and we are working also with the neighbors and the communes and the police and the security issues and with the private sector. so what you see on tv, some of these scenes, it is true but it's not a widespread situation. you must also be reminded that

haiti before the earthquake had problems with insecurity, and i could say that is not that different from what we saw before the earthquake. >> good luck to all the men and women on the mission. the united nations personnel. we are sorried an't the u.n. peace keepers who were killed in haiti. appreciate it. >> thank you. thank you, wolf. thank you very much. and be sure to watch hope for haiti, a global telethon on cnn this friday night. george clooney and wyclef jean and anderson coop ler be reporting live friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. we'll continue our coverage what is happening in haiti and also the political ramifications of the election in massachusetts last night. the best political team on television is standing by and

other big stories of the day. pn and it's like oh boy, what's this going to be. i want to do a portrait, of every man, woman and child in this beautiful country of ours... 300 million people, at one time. i said, i can do it but you better get me my left handed scissors. we're going to take a snapshot ("pop") of america. isn't that what the census is doing? yeah who's in? right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. 154 are tracking shipments on a train. 33 are iming on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email on vacation. that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. right now get a free 3g/4g device for your laptop. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilitie.

let's get back to lisa sylvester and the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what sels going on? >> hi, there, wolf, president obama is cracking down a texas cheats. today he signed on order onner bars government contractors who haven't paid taxes from getting

new contracts. and it orders review of filing to make sure they are on the up and up. the u.s. is owed more than $5 billion in unpaid taxes by thousands of companies. >> one company owner who owed over $1 million in taxes was paid over $1 million as a defense contractor. instead of uses that money to pay his back taxes, he chose to buy a boat and cars and a home abroad. taking the stand today, the salah salahis, and members are investigating how the salahis managed to get through security check points and shook lands with president obama. today, they didn't provide any information. >> let me ask you a question,

did you order a tuxedo that night? you going to take the fifth? >> on the advice of counsel? >> were through? are you here right now? we got to get an answer from your attorney on that? >> that was painful to watch there. a safety warning for parents of young children. 1.5 million graco strollers are being restalled. they were sold between october 2004 to 2009. they are telling them to stop use the product. that's all we got. i got say, it's great being a part of the wolfpack. great to be a part of "the

situation room." >> we are glad you are a part of 9 "situation room." lisa sylvester, glad she joined the team. welcome. >> thank you. >> we are going to take a quick break. we will get back to the political bombshell that occurred last night. huge ramifications for health care rer form and more. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the cadillac cts sport sedan. one of car and driver's 10 best for the third year in a row. ♪ and now, cadillac announces the new luxury collection lease. ♪

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respect scott brown says his senate win in massachusetts is sending a powerful message to washington. we're digging deeper on the major political story. jesse yellin is in boston with more. what are they saying on the day after, jessica?

>> reporter: wolf, a lot of attention is focused on the independent. ted kennedy won the independents for years. there is an enormous amount of analysis why did they go with the brown campaign this time? a lot of it is because of the health care plan and obama's agenda broadly. and the truth is, his own campaign acknowledges that scott brown was able to raise a lot of money, and money from out of state because of those factors. but when it comes to getting votes from independents here in massachusetts, it seems it had to do with something much more vague and broad than that. and it was just a dissatisfaction with washington and the power in washington and they wanted to send a message to shake things up. here is one independent voter we spoke to. >> it's a serious blow to the

democrats running things down there. it will have an effect. >> reporter: so he wants the shake-up, doesn't know to it's a good thing but it's better than not. what does it mean for the democrats? the same fellow and others said they voted for brown but they would be willing to vote for a democrat next time. >> i think it should be a wake-up call on how they plan the campaign. they assume it was ted kennedy's seat, they were going win. and that is how scott was able to come out and do it. they need to not take anything for granted. >> reporter: so apart from health care, apart from the economy, the big message from the economy, don't be complaiplt

if you are running for office. wolf? >> the its are critical indeed. jessica yellin in boston. let's back to the best political team on television. i'm surrounded by them. gloria, what option for the democrats would be scale back dramatically the health care reform package and work with the republicans and get bipartisan legislation. is that hoo doible? >> it's easier said than done. the white house now does haven't a lot of good choitss. i think the temptation is to find a way to manipulate something to get it through the congress. >> strictly democratic support? >> they can't count on republicans because for obvious reasons it has served the republicans well to oppose barack obama. why is it in their interest -- >> you remember in '93, '94 when bill clinton failed and he went

to work with republicans and they got stuff done. >> there is a difference. the american people put the republicans in charge of the congress, the senate and the house. the american people, the people of massachusetts put one guy in one seat. the democrats have gone from the largest majority in 33 years to the second largest majority. it's still their responsibility. rather than the opposes part opposing them, they ought to get things done. i think what you will see, the democrats will make a run at trying to pass their version of health care. the senate has passed it. take the same bill, pass it through the senate. >> can they get the votes? >> who knows? if the proof is the in the pudding, not a singer republican voted for it. the american people, the polling was against it, the democrats

stood strong, and they passed the economic plan and democrats got re-elected. that's the model here. if it works f it's good policy. >> alex, it's a republican -- >> there are a lot of democrats out there thinking in congress, i'm not ready to retire, become a lobbyist. and they just saw what happened to someone who is trying to defend the obama spending and health care in massachusetts. they are not going to go out will and support big government health care. what they are going to support is a big economic package, health and jobs. >> let me bring in david gergen, listening to this. i have been saying, the democrats' options now are bad and worse. >> that's right. and terrible. look, i understand paul's point, and why democrats will take one more run at it. they do have to be mindful of

two things. they have to be careful and transparent, it made a difference of scott brown winning. but not just massachusetts, but if you look nation wooird, the polls are 10% to 15% negative against this health care reform plan. so we have not -- paul goes back 33 years. paul, i don't think you can find an example in 33 years when the congress of the united states when the president has passed a major piece of social legislation in the face of public opposition. so that is an important thing. and there are a number of people putting an interpretation to who the president said to george stephanopoulos in his abc sprer view. >> can nancy pelosi get 218 votes to pass the senate version without change? >> yes, she can.

let me say about this. the think democrats will be able over six weeks to find the best elements of the bill and get it through. if the democrats with find a way to present parts of the package that the american people clearly agree with, pre-existing conditions, no conditions, we might be able to find republicans in the senate to herm us get you bill through. i don't think we should close the door on health care. >> why is it that republican, like rond reagan or george w. bush, they had very small majorities in the senate. >> no majorities. >> and the democrats can't seem to do it. >> we didn't begin with an arrogant position. we started with reagan, and had 192 house members. we needed to have a coalition there for strong national defense and cutting taxes and

those things. we got down to 51, 52 in the senate and we will h three or four going south on us. byrd held. we treated tip o'neill with great e respect and treated byrd with great respect. the problem now, the lines are drawn. >> democrats had 60 votes in the senate for a year. they could have passed anything they wanted. but what they wanted was not something they could sell to the american people. >> hold those thoughts. we are going to continue our conversation. and chris lawrence is now aboard the u.s. hospital ship now offshore. getting ready to save lives. stay with us. [ male announcer ] a bad cold hits your whole body.

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on this anniversary of president obama's first year in office we are looking closely at items from his term by the numbers. with his signature he signed 124 bills into law and issued 39 ek tif orders. the president old three prime time presidential addresses and five white house news conferences. he also racked up plenty of miles on air force one. he visited 20 countries from canada to china, trinidad and turkey and visited 28 u.s. states, seven he lost in the elections and 28 others he won, by the numbers. back to jack cafferty now for the cafferty file. >> question this hour. how should the democrats proceed on health care now that they no long ver the votes to pass in the senate.

jacques saying listen to howard dean. sack the whole thing and start over and don't dote the insurance bob lee run the whole show. otherwise, strip out the man date, fines and taxes on the cadillac plans. danny in brooklyn writes the democrats ought to push as hard before the election. we have a lot of the table. terrorism, natural disaster, the economic crisis. we shouldn't have to worry about health care at a team like this. peter writes, start from scratch, what a profound waste of time health care reform has been. so many pressing and arguably more important issues set aside by the leadership to pass a bill that usa an expensive overreach. it's rack and file for the members of congress. thank goodness the massachusetts voters have caused congress to take their foot off the gas and look both ways.

ed writes it isn't reform. when do we call higher cost, lower quality and more red tape reform? americans want it to stop and move to a plan ma is bet interfair and put together in an open and transparent way. remember the broken promise by the president? >> tracy writes, listen to the people. how about this. harry reid, nancy pelosi and others refrain from the insult and insed sit down and thereon what they have to say. you want to read more go to my blog. cnn.com/saferty file. >> see you back here tomorrow. when we come back, soledad o'brien has a powerful story from haiti. to the all-american meal. french fries, and our national passion for them, are legendary. classic. iconic. but times change. and people want better foods. so cargill helped a restaurant chain create a zero-trans fat

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-- sef statingly close to the epicenter of last week's earthquake. we have brn hear sog stories from people burying the dead. finally, they are getting some relief. here is soledad o'brien. >> reporter: right there. >> we have to go. we have to go to the hospital. >> reporter: is she eye live? okay? >> yeah, she's alive. >> reporter: on the streets a baby is rescued from the rubble. she was found by a local firefighter and raced to rescue workers. no one knows if he was born before or after the earthquake. did her mother abandon her or is her mother dead.

it's an isolated momentum in a town not far from the quake. life has been up ended. as many as 10 prn of the population may have died. survivors were digging them ssms out for days before help ban to trickle in. >> we brought in shovels, picks, axes, chain saws. the jaws of life. just any material that can be carried portably. >> reporter: now there are guards from sri lanka, and the cuban doctor was here with her colleagues notch now they have 709 patients a day beneath tents. this 3-yard boy is recovering from head injuries and fractured limbs. he is doing better. but this 4-year-old drifts in

and out of consciousness and is likely to die. the child suffered neurological damage. there is hope, say says in they nied people to help or people who survivor willed die from their injuries. jacmel draws people who took to the streets to record the castfy. >> they weren't receiving help and they got to work videotaping stories and sending them out over the internet and help is finally coming. >> reporter: keeping up the pressure on the relief workers who are arriving. massive boulders made it hard to pass. the canadians came by sea and

the americans arrive by air. soledad o'brien. so much medical help is anchored off the kois of haiti. i had be back at the top of the hour with campbell brown. we leave you with this frort chris lawrence. >> reporter: we followed same route hundreds of patients are starting to follow. on board a navy helicopter and out to sea where the big, white ship is like a beacon for overwhelmed doctors in port-au-prince. besides the 40 beds in the ere, they have five operating rooms up and running. there is also a team of u.s. navy translate toers help doctors and patients communicate. >> they tell the doctor what they are saying and sometimes it can be frustrating. >> reporter: gilbert grew up in

haiti and struggles to watch what is happening on shore. >> it's -- never seen anything like it before. never. >> reporter: the military says the haitian government is making the recommendations for which patients should come here. doctors tell us they don't know if they will see 3,000 patients or 30,000. they have about 1,000 beds, nearly as many as johns hopkins. soon, they will all be filled. >> sooning we will be filled to capacity. >> reporter: which raises the question, what happens when they don't have any free deds and needy patients are waiting to be air lifrted on board? >> we are talking to folks that recognize what you just said. we have to be able to treat as many patients as we can. you are not going to be able to live on the ship indefinitely. >> reporter: there are roughly 20 facilities in the u.s. that are willing to accept